


Tony Wyzek: Born Into Crime

by reader1718



Category: Matilda (1996), Matilda - Roald Dahl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-28
Updated: 2015-01-28
Packaged: 2018-03-09 11:30:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3248033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reader1718/pseuds/reader1718





	Tony Wyzek: Born Into Crime

Tony Wyzek: Born Into Crime  
CHARACTERS  
TONY WYZEK: the youngest child of the Wyzek family (7 years old); treated like crap; never been to school; extremely smart, but thought to be a wart; possesses special powers of telekinesis; is usually left alone while his parents and brother go their various ways; is eventually adopted by his teacher and eventual school principal, Miss Heather Williams  
JAMES WYZEK: Tony's father; a notorious car swindler who sold overpriced, stolen cars, that were altered to make them seem in better condition than they actually were; he also verbally abused his youngest son, left him alone in the house habitually and also deprived him of many things as a child; he was eventually exposed by his own son  
LYDIA WYZEK: Tony's airhead mother; she went off to Bingo every day, leaving Tony alone in the house with little food  
JOSH WYZEK: Tony's bratty brother and his parents' favorite child; goes off to school every day  
MISS HEATHER WILLIAMS: Tony's schoolteacher and the principal's niece; she cares about Tony very much and eventually adopts him when his family flees to Suriname to avoid the FBI  
MARIA: Bernardo's sister; becomes interested in Tony when he's fifteen years-old; she eventually learns the truth about his family and his past  
BERNARDO: Maria's brother; he is originally Tony's enemy, but when he finds out about Tony's family and what his dad has done with his cars (one of which his family bought), he agrees to help him expose his father and get adopted out of his family  
PRINCIPAL BASHER: the terrible and cruel principal of the school Tony attends; she is notorious for cruel and unusual punishments for children, being extremely paranoid, and exacting terrible revenge for any wrong done her;  
LOCATIONS:  
BASHER HALL: the school Tony attends; Ms. Basher is the principal TONY'S HOUSE:  
MISS WILLIAMS' HOUSE:  
PRINCIPAL BASHER'S HOUSE (LATER MISS WILLIAMS' NEW HOUSE):  
STORY:  
Tony Wyzek wasn't a particularly remarkable child. At least that's what everyone thought at first. He looked ordinary, and for the first few years, he seemed normal enough. But by the time Tony was two years old, he could already take care of himself for the most part. He wasn't allowed to go to school like his older brother, and his parents, James and Lydia Wyzek, left him alone in the house while they took his brother to school, then went their separate ways-his mom to bingo and his dad to work selling used cars that weren't worth the money spent on them. While they were out, Tony managed by himself, managing to fix his own food, reach things his parents didn't want him getting into, and set to reading every book in the house. If his parents and brother had been around when this happened, they might have noticed that Tony was a very smart little boy, but because they weren't, they remained oblivious to how special he was. When Tony finished all the books in the house, he started looking for more, which led him to the library downtown, and he walked there that very day when the rest of his family left. He started with the children's books and worked his way into more advanced material, reading even the works of John Steinbeck, Herman Melville, even Charles Dickens. Nicholas Nickelby was one of his favorites. It was only when he got his own library card and started taking books home with him that the problems started.  
One day his dad caught him with several books he'd taken out of the library and asked him, "What is this trash you're reading?" "It's not trash dad. It's really good. It's called Moby Dick by Herman Melville," Tony replied. His dad, instead of being pleased that his son was reading-the way you'd expect-started yelling at Tony about not being here when his package arrived because he'd been sitting there reading. He then started tearing up the books, starting with Moby Dick. Tony was horrified and protested that it was a library book, not one he owned, but that didn't stop his father. Finally, James stopped, figuring he'd taught his son a lesson. What he didn't know was that this action was only the first in a series that would make Tony mad and help him discover a powerful weapon of revenge hidden deep inside him.  
Soon, however, Tony's life underwent a big change. And when I say big, I mean big. James was at his car dealership the next day, and it was business as usual until he met Ms. Tonya Basher. She was principal of a school called Basher Hall and agreed to take Tony on as a student as part of the payment for getting a new car. Tony was delighted when his dad announced that he was going to school, not knowing what he was in for. When Tony arrived, he immediately made friends with a boy named Christopher, who warned him about things that would make life at the school less than fun. One thing was the Chokey-made infamous by Agatha Trunchbull of Crunchen Hall. It was a narrow closet with nails and broken glass sticking out of the door, and it was in a part of the school that daylight never touched. Chris mentioned that once Ms. Basher had actually forgotten to let someone out of there and left her in there all day! He also warned Tony that ms. Basher was the shot put champion for the U.S. this meant she was extremely strong. Tony found that out, along with a lot of other things about her when she shot putted a kid with long Greaser hair over a fence! Fortunately the kid was okay and eventually made it to class. That was where Tony met Miss Heather Williams, his very beautiful and kind teacher. She was more like a mother to him than his own mother had been, and he liked her very much. She quickly discovered he was smarter than the other children when he told her what thirteen times three hundred seventy nine was after doing the math in his head. The other children were impressed and really began to respect and admire the little genius, as Tony became known.  
That night, Miss Williams came over to talk to Tony's parents about getting him ready to start college, telling them he could be ready for it in just a few weeks with a little extra instruction. James and Lydia weren't too keen on that however, and seemed to care more about their television program than their son's education, much to Miss Williams's shock. They seemed to think Tony was little more than an inconvenience. She loved the boy and very much wished she had a son like him, and thought how horrible it was that this remarkable child was stuck in a family that didn't appreciate or want him. If there was a way, she was completely willing to adopt him. The next day at school, though, trouble started. Chris had thought up the brilliant idea of putting a large beetle in the pitcher of water that was being prepared for today-the day Ms. Basher would come and teach the class. When she entered the room, everyone immediately stood at attention and answered her with "Yes Ms. Basher" whenever she asked them a question or told them to do something. All too soon, Ms. Basher discovered the beetle that had been in the pitcher and was now in her glass. She freaked out big time, thinking it was a spider. She demanded to know who did it and Tony raised his hand to tell her it was a beetle, not a spider. Ms. Basher, though, thought he was admitting guilt and decided to punish him. Tony became very angry and focused on the glass with the bug in it. The glass began to tip little by little, until it finally toppled over and the beetle spilled out onto Ms. Basher. She immediately decided that he was guilty and decided to punish him because she didn't know who really did it. The only thing that saved him was Miss Williams pointing out that he couldn't have done it because he hadn't moved from his seat the entire time. Finally the principal gave up and merely warned him, "I'll be watching you."  
Tony now knew he could do something no one else could do. He didn't know exactly how he did it, but he knew as sure as anything that he had made that glass tip over. He started practicing at home whenever he could, trying to figure out how the power worked. Finally one day the answer started to come when the family was gathered around the TV to eat dinner. While the rest of his family chose to watch the show, Tony tried to read. Unfortunately, the choice of TV or reading wasn't really a choice and Tony got fussed at for reading instead. His father finally turned his head and forced him to watch the TV. Tony's anger was completely focused on the TV he was being forced to watch, and suddenly the TV exploded! Fortunately, his dad didn't blame him for that, but that didn't make Tony any less sure that somehow he'd caused the TV to explode. He started to try new experiments, trying to make things happen just by thinking about them, with no luck. Finally, he remembered back to what he'd been feeling when the TV had blown up and tried to duplicate the feeling. Time after time it didn't work. He finally had an idea. "Hey Dad!" Tony called. "What!?" his father demanded. "Yell at me, okay?" Tony called back. "Shut up!" his dad yelled, which immediately made the anger surge up inside him. He focused on the door to his room with all his anger. It didn't work. "Yell at me again, okay?" Tony called to his father. "Yell at you? I'll do more than yell at you. I'll come up there and give you a good, hard smack. How about that?" his dad shouted back. Tony focused his anger again, but the door still didn't budge. Finally, when his dad was only a few inches from the door, the door slammed shut on its own and locked itself. Tony was pleased with himself and vowed to learn how to use his power without being angry. He got his chance the very next day when his family left.  
He immediately started by throwing out what his mom had left him for breakfast, grabbing a bowl, and levitated a box of cereal, making it pour into his bowl, then added milk the same way, using his powers to seal up the cereal and milk and put each back where he found it. He then concentrated on the spoon, making it lift up toward his mouth, then opened his mouth to eat the cereal. That gave him the idea for what he did next. He practiced making all kinds of things fly around the room at the same time. Soon he had the hang of it. Finally he stopped playing around and opened the drapes on the front window to find a pair of men snooping around his house. He followed them to the garage where they got a ladder to go looking for a box, which Tony nudged to the other end of the shelf. When they moved the ladder, he moved the box the other way. When the guys noticed him, they told him his dad was a criminal and that he would end up in an orphanage. "There's another crime in the making. Your car's about to run a stop sign," Tony replied as he undid the brake with his powers. The two men immediately took off after their car and Tony deftly swiped the video tape they'd made of his dad's dirty dealings. He didn't know why he was helping a known criminal, but he really couldn't let them arrest his father until he had somewhere else to go. Little did he know that very soon he would have that chance from a most unlikely source.  
The next day, he ran into a guy named Bernardo who was the leader of the rival gang of his friends' gang. Even though they were rivals, Tony and Bernardo got to talking and Tony found out that his family had bought one of Tony's dad's cars. Tony knew from going to visit his dad's place of business that James was notorious for swindling people, and that he'd probably swindled this poor family. He offered to help Bernardo and his family, if Bernardo would help him expose his father as the criminal he was. Tony knew that if he could get his father exposed then maybe he could get adopted out of the family. Bernardo didn't know why Tony would want to expose his own father, but he agreed. In the meantime, Tony was also working on a plan to get rid of Ms. Basher. He had been inside her house trying to get some of Miss Williams's childhood possessions out, and had found out several things that he could use against her. He decided to do so on Monday and he acted interested in his dad's business so his dad would take him along the next day. The ploy worked and James took him along. Tony used a small spy cam he'd purchased with his limited allowance to photograph every dirty and dishonest thing his dad did. He also video taped a lot of things that would look very bad if they ever came out and passed all of the evidence along to Bernardo. Then Tony got to work on Ms. Basher. She had finally gone too far when she'd punished him for his father's faulty car that she'd bought. So he decided to use his powers to teach her a lesson, and let his teacher in on the secret.  
On Monday, Tony went to class earlier than usual, hoping to find Miss Williams before class started. He wanted to tell her about his powers before Ms. Basher came in to teach the class. His luck held. She was right there in the room grading papers, and looked up when he walked in. "Miss Williams, I just came to apologize. I was the one who made the glass tip over last week," Tony told her. "Tony, you couldn't have. You were in your seat the entire time. No one did it. It was an accident," Miss Williams told him. "But I did do it, Miss Williams. I made the glass tip over. I did it with my powers," Tony told her. He then made the pitcher on the desk rise just enough to be noticeable. Miss Williams merely pushed it back down absentmindedly. Undaunted, Tony made it rise up again. This time Miss Williams stared at it in astonishment, running her hand under it to be sure it really was floating. Tony laughed as he watched her do that, then said, "I think I've got them down. Watch this." He pointed at various things in the classroom one by one and art projects were covered by grammar notes, blinds closed, and maps rolled up, while Miss Williams watched in astonishment. "No more Mr. Nice Guy," Tony replied.  
Just then they heard Ms. Basher herding the rest of the kids into the classroom, so Miss Williams quickly grabbed the floating pitcher so that it looked like she was holding it. "Water, and hold the beetle," Ms. Basher demanded, pouring herself a cup full of water. She then started grilling them about a piece of fabric from someone's clothing that had ended up left outside her house the previous night. Tony immediately recognized it as a piece that had gone missing from his jacket when he'd been outside the previous night using his powers to rescue a doll that belonged to Miss Williams when she was a girl, along with a couple of her father's chocolates. He had eaten his that night, but Miss Williams still had the doll and the chocolate he'd gotten her. If Ms. Basher found them, Miss Williams would get blamed, and Tony couldn't let that happen. So he immediately started in on the "scare Ms. Basher" plan. He flashed the blinds, while levitating a piece of chalk and had it write a message from Miss Williams's father (calling Ms. Basher 'Tonya'), demanding that Ms. Basher give her the house and money, then get out of town as fast as she could. It then said, "If you don't, I will get you. I will get you like you got me. That is a promise." Tony made the chalk underline the last part three times. The next thing everyone heard was a thump, as Ms. Basher fainted dead away.  
One of the students went up to her to see if she was all right, and she awoke abruptly. She immediately wanted to blame Tony for what had happened and Miss Williams defended him. Ms. Basher threatened her with the words, "I broke your arm once. I can do it again, Heather." "I'm not seven years old anymore Aunt Basher, and I'm not afraid of you!" Miss Williams boldly declared, as many students gasped at the revelation that their teacher was the principal's niece. Ms. Basher stumbled around the room, slightly dazed, and eventually ended up landing on the globe. Miss Williams gestured with her finger for Tony to make it spin. He did so, and the infamous Ms. Basher spun around dizzily on the globe, while the students laughed. She finally made it off and the students backed off, warily. She lurched around the room dizzily before settling on Chris as a target. She charged him, intent on grabbing him, but at the last minute, Tony made him float up to grab the rod over the door, making Ms. Basher charge past him instead. She ended up in the hall, where the students in the other classrooms immediately rushed out to gawk, having heard the commotion. They all decided to take advantage of the situation and grabbed things to throw at her, including food and garbage. Ms. Basher fought her way to the door and fled the school, her clothes and herself a mess. She was never to be seen or heard from again.  
By an overwhelming and unanimous decision, Miss Williams was made principal of Basher Hall in place of her aunt. She got to move back into her father's house and Tony visited her frequently, astonishing her with the things he knew. One day, however, things were spoiled when his family car drove up and his mother got out. "Hey you! Get in the car. We're leaving. Let's wrap up these cookies," his mother said. Miss Williams offered to walk him home, but his mom told him that no one would be there because they were moving to Suriname. Tony didn't want to leave, but his mother dragged him toward the car. Tony wanted nothing to do with his biological parents or brother, so he rushed back to Miss Williams, begging her to let him stay with her. His mom laughed, asking why Miss Williams would want a "snot-nosed brat" like him. "Because he's a wonderful child, and I love him," Miss Williams replied. "Adopt me, Miss Williams!" Tony shouted, pulling some papers from his mom's purse that she didn't even know were in there. "Hey! Where did you get those?" his mom asked. "From a book in the library. I've had them since I was old enough to Xerox. All you have to do is sign them," Tony replied. His mother looked at him with an expression that actually looked like love for the first time. "All this time you've been with us, and I never once understood you," his mom said. Finally she asked, "Who's got a pen?" James produced one and both he and Lydia signed the adoption papers. So Tony was allowed to stay with Miss Williams and over time, he forgot the whole ordeal, until one fateful day.  
Six years later, Tony was in the local ice cream store, when a girl came in and started talking to him. She asked him about himself, his family, all the usual things. Tony finally invited her over to meet Miss Williams, and they left to go there after she and Tony paid for their ice creams. Tony realized he was starting to like her and didn't know how to go about asking her for any kind of date, since he didn't want her to get hurt if his biological family somehow came back into his life. When they finally arrived at the house, they settled down to talk some more. Only moments later, they were interrupted by Miss Williams, who sounded panicked as she said, "Tony, turn on the TV news! NOW!" Startled, Tony did as he was told, and gasped at the story that was playing.  
The reporter covering the story said, "Our top news story today. Known car thief and swindler Jack Wyzek was arrested along with his family today in a coastal town in Suriname. Several stolen car parts were found behind the family's house, along with sawdust-which he'd been using to make the car motors run smooth-and super super glue, which he used to attach car bumpers. Jack is expected to get life in prison with no chance of parole, and his wife and son are to be sent to a secure facility where they will be kept under guard to ensure they don't try to break Jack out. That's all. Back to you in the newsroom." Tony buried his face in his hands at the sight of his father on the news. The girl-whose name was Maria-asked him what was wrong, and Tony had to finally tell her. "Jack Wyzek was my real father. I was adopted by Miss Williams after I helped expose him to the local police, causing them to flee to Suriname. I betrayed my own father because he treated me like crap most of the time. My mother was no better, nor was my brother. That made me want to get out of there more than ever. So I gathered evidence that I knew would expose my father for what he was, then handed the evidence to Bernardo Nunez, who brought it to court. I got my parents to sign the adoption papers right before they left town, and Miss Williams has been my legal guardian ever since," Tony replied. Maria was surprised to find out that Bernardo, who was her brother, had such a big role in all of this. She finally held Tony and comforted him as he sat there, still shaking at what he'd seen. Eventually Tony forgot the whole ordeal and lived a happy life up until the day he died of old age.


End file.
